Intertwining Yourself Into Your Company’s Brand: How to Avoid It

So often, small business owners end up becoming their brand. In other words, they develop a reputation within their industry as the go-to person to deliver the best goods and/or services. The reputation is great, however, what happens when that person wants to scale up the business, or replace themselves so that they can focus on other parts of the business or simply work less? The short answer is that they can’t quit without the business quitting.

The Difference Between Yourself and Your Company’s Brand

There is a huge difference between you, yourself as a brand, and your company’s brand. You, as a personal brand, have great qualities and characteristics that people have come to know and trust you as an individual. That is what makes you great. People see that in you, and therefore are more willing to trust your company. However, the company also needs to be known to have certain qualities and characteristics, a persona, so that people begin to recognize and trust that company as a company.

The problem lies when small business owners intertwine themselves into the company. In other words, instead of the person being and individual representing their company X, they become company X. This may be good while the owner is young, full of energy and is able to be company X. But is it good for the long term? Can the owner really continue at that pace for the next thirty or forty years? What happens when they want to retire? How will the company continue if they are the company? It simply can not.

A Real World Example

I work hard to ground the concepts I write about in real world examples. This example is absolutely great. The author of the article that I found is a well known, highly paid speaker based in North Carolina. The article is titled “Selling-Why it Pays to be an Unpaid Consultant.”

The article talks about value, over delivering and how people will buy from people they value and trust. All very good points. The author uses an example of their CPA as being someone they truly value, and how they value the CPA’s mind over the financial statements that are created. Here is where the problem lies. It seems as though the CPA has the mindset of being the company.

…A couple of years ago, her business had grown to the point that she sent all of her clients, including me, a form letter informing us that she was going to have to trim her client list to lessen her workload. In other words, some of us were going to have to go.

This just does not make sense. If business is that good, why not scale it up to help more clients? Re-read that quoted section from the article. It is not the actions, it is the mindset of the CPA that does not make sense. Let’s break it down.

“…she was going to have to trim her client list to lessen her workload.”

This statement describes the business model completely. The CPA is company X. She, herself has taken on too much work and needs to lessen her workload. This is the trap that many small businesses run into. They simply cannot keep up when they build up momentum. The reason why is simple. They do not have a business system in place to scale up as needed.

The Author of the Article

I was pretty impressed with the article overall. However, that statement concerned me about how the author did business themselves. I researched the author a bit more and discovered that the name of their company was their name. This, I feel, is a dangerous move. The author reveals more about their business model in the article, about how he didn’t want to lose his CPA.

My reaction to this announcement? Sheer panic. I called her immediately. I begged to make the cut! I pleaded. I stammered. I reminded her that I have a simple business and am easy to work with and always pay on time and … and…and…you get the idea.

What would have happened if McDonald’s stopped making hamburgers, french fries, and milkshakes when their workload got to be too much?  Do you think they would send a form letter to all of their customers and potential customers that they can’t keep up and need to let some of them go? I think not. McDonald’s works because it has a proven system in place that works.

To Sum It All Up

You yourself are a brand. Your company itself is a brand. You can represent your company’s brand, but do not become your company. In other words, don’t limit yourself and your company’s potential from the start. Developing a solid business system that can be managed and scaled up is the only way to build a true business.